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02.05.2008

Glass carriers for semiconductor processes

Plan Optik AG, the world market leader in glass and fused silica wafer production for MEMS applications, now offers glass carriers for semiconductor processes.

Semiconductor wafers are getting thinner and thinner and the required accuracy in respect to thickness variation and surface quality in back thinning, dicing and various other processes is increasing more and more. For these processes accurate process carriers are an axiomatic precondition. Glass is the perfect substrate material because of it's thermal stability and resistance against acids and other chemicals. Furthermore these glass carriers can be reused which makes a contribution to cost down and environmental protection.

Plan Optik is producing such carriers for either the 3M® as well as the Brewer Science® / EVG® Wafer BondTM System.

These glass carriers are ground or polished to a very high accuracy by using the latest grinding and polishing technology. A total thickness variation as low as 2 microns and a guaranteed thickness tolerance of 5 microns over all carriers in the end leads to accurate semiconductor wafers. Carriers are clean room packed and ready for immediate use.

The use of different glass types for these carriers allow an adaption of the coefficient of thermal expansion (cte) of the carrier to the semiconductor wafer which shall be processed. This reduces or mostly even eliminates stress issues when heat is involved in semiconductor processes.

Glass carriers are available for semiconductor wafers with a diameter of up to 300 mm. The lowest available thickness is 100 microns.

The new product group semiconductor wafer carriers completes the wide spectrum of glass and fused silica wafers and carriers from Plan Optik AG - a public German company having experience in glass processing since more than 40 years - are well established in the MEMS and semiconductor industry.